


Checkmate

by Anonymous



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Hogsmeade, Snow, Wizard's Chess (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:01:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29560173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Ron and Hugo have a heart-to-heart over a chess tournament.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Kudos: 24
Collections: Ron's Chessboard Fest 2021





	Checkmate

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Ron's Chessboard Fest - because there can never be too much Ron love :)
> 
> Prompt was: Hogsmeade, a chess tournament, snow, and hot chocolate

“Checkmate.”

Across the table from him, Neville sighed and gave him a wry grin. “You always were the best at school.”

“Professor Longbottom, he just kicked your ar—“

“Oi!” Neville interrupted the cheeky student who’d been watching nearby, though he was still smiling as he shook Ron’s hand and stood. “Let’s say you and I set up the board and see how confident you feel.”

“Can we play for house points?” the boy asked as he followed Neville over to another table. Their voices faded into the din of the pub, but Ron thought he heard Neville say something about the possibility of a detention when term resumed next month.

Ron smiled to himself as he reset the board in front of him and then glanced over at his daughter, curled up in the neighboring booth with her nose deep in a potions book. “Hey Rosie, how about a game before the championship?” She raised her eyes to meet his but otherwise didn’t move; it was a familiar look, one he’d been getting from Hermione for two decades now, anytime he interrupted her with a book.

“Dad, Scorpius outscored me on the Potions final,” she said indignantly. “D’you know what that means?”

Ron reached over to gently shut her book. “It means that it’s done, and you’ll get him on the next one.”

“Right. By studying.”

“Over Christmas hols?”

“Yes.”

Ron sighed, but before he could carry on with convincing her to relax—something he’d also gotten quite familiar with over the years with his wife and their equally driven eldest child—the door to the Hog’s Head clattered open, and Hermione herself scampered in, huddled against the cold, snowflakes sticking to her fuzzy hat and the long curls that dangled out from underneath it. Ron stood to greet her, taking in her frazzled appearance as she hurried over to him. “Everything okay?” he asked as she leaned up to kiss him. Hermione nodded quickly, and Ron looked at his watch. “Where’s Hugo, isn’t the juniors tournament about to start?”

“Yes, he’s still down at Honeyduke’s.” Hermione replied, tugging at Ron’s sleeve to pull him into a quieter corner of the pub. “He’s got a bit of cold feet about his first match. I told him I’d come and fetch you.”

Ron reached for his coat. “Okay, I’ll trade you.” He nodded over to Rose, who was now scribbling furiously into the margins of her book. “I’ll take care of my mini-me, you take yours.”

Hermione sighed. “Still on about the potions final?”

“Well, she _is_ your daughter,” Ron replied with a smirk.

“Just mine?” Hermione teased back, reaching up to loop Ron’s scarf around his neck.

“In the classroom, she’s yours. On the quidditch pitch, she’s mine.” Ron leaned down to kiss her again, then hurried out into the snow as Hermione slid into the booth across from Rose.

Despite the cold, Ron had always loved Hogsmeade this time of year, and it was nice to have an opportunity to bring the kids for a change. Rose had only just started at Hogwarts in September, so she wasn’t yet old enough to enjoy the occasional school-sanctioned outings, and when Neville had told him about the chess tournament the village was hosting, it had seemed a perfect opportunity for a weekend away before they got swept up in Christmas festivities at the Burrow. Rose had declined to enter the competition in the Hogwarts division, on account of her lingering frustration over the aforementioned potions final, but Hugo had been excited to try his hand in the younger group, so Ron wondered what was troubling him now.

The bell above the door jingled as Ron entered Honeyduke’s, finding it bustling full of children and a number of tables set with chessboards, all ready to go. Hugo was near the front of the store looking forlornly at the chessboard nearest him, and Ron hurried over to him. “Hey, Hu. Let’s go take a walk, yeah?” He wrapped an arm around his son’s shoulders and steered him out into the snow. There was nearly no one out in the lane, giving them the privacy to talk. “Mum said you’re a bit nervous about the tournament?”

Hugo kicked at the snow as he walked beside Ron. “What if I’m not any good? What if I lose in the first round?”

Ron didn’t respond immediately. He knew from experience what futile balm reassurance could be on the wounds of insecurity, and he wanted to make sure he got to the root of it. “What makes you say that?”

Hugo huffed. “I’m the worst in the family, except for Mum.”

“Well,” Ron said slowly. “You’re also the youngest, so you’ve had the least practice. You’re better than I was when I was nine. And hey, at least you only have _one_ older sibling around kicking your arse. I had five!” Hugo cracked a smile, and Ron recognized this expression too, one that his son had inherited from him. “But more importantly, you could be the most rubbish chess player in the world and it wouldn’t mean we love you any less.”

“I know _that_ ,” Hugo said with a sigh. “But I still want to do well.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve got your mum’s competitive streak to thank for that.” Ron pulled Hugo in for a hug. “Want to go back to the tournament, or you want to skive off and go get hot chocolate?”

“We can go back. It’s about to start. Maybe we can get hot chocolate after though?” Hugo asked hopefully.

“Absolutely we can. You got this, bud. Go get ‘em.” Hugo darted back into the sweet shop, Ron ambling behind.

The match was nearly over when Hermione returned to the shop with, Ron noticed, Rose’s potions book tucked under her arm. “Feel like I’ve been chasing you all over the village this afternoon,” she chided as she sidled up to Ron to watch. “You know Aberforth is threatening to start your championship match without you?”

Ron shrugged. “It’s just for fun, Hermione. Besides—” He saw Hugo’s face light up as he made the winning move, putting his opponent in checkmate, and Ron gave him a big smile as he looked over. “This was more important.”


End file.
